Medical Tourism Gaining Momentum
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Chapter 4: DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF OVERALL FINDINGS IN THE LITERATURE
Introduction
As mentioned in the previous chapter, this chapter is probably the main part of the research as it reviews and covers the whole six literatures that the author has chosen about medical tourism. The chosen journals are:
Connell, J. (2006), Medical tourism: Sea, sun, sand and surgery
Cohen, E. (2008), Medical tourism in Thailand
Chee, H. L. (2007), Medical Tourism in Malaysia: International Movement of Healthcare Consumers and the Commodification of Healthcare
Herrick, D. M. (2007), Medical Tourism: Global competition in Healthcare
Lunt, N., Smith, R., Exworthy, M., Green, S. T., Horsfall, D., &Mannion, R. Medical Tourism: Treatments, Markets and Health System Implications: A scoping review.
Nagarajan, G. (2004). Dissertation on Medical Tourism in India: Strategy for Its Development
The chapter will highlight the details about what is currently known for medical tourism, the interaction between the demand and supply of medical services, and the factors that support the growth of the industry. Because the main concern is about medical tourism in developing countries, so the author has analyzed data and information related to the subject such as the emerging of medical tourism in Thailand, India and Malaysia, factors that help develop medical tourism industry, problems occurs in curing process, as well as the intervention of government in supporting this industry. Findings overview of methodology is also highlighted in this chapter so as to point out the suitable approach and strategy for the research. This will be the foundation for further recommendations in chapter 5.
Findings Overview of Methodologies
The research methodology is based on the author critical views on the subject matter, associated with general data collection and observations. In addition, real number and facts collected from the chosen journals are also considered so as to come with a more precise and realistic conclusion about the subject matter. In short, the author has written the paper based on the philosophy of positivism, interpretative and realism.
For data collection, the research mostly depends on secondary data – which are the six journals about medical tourism. Because the research focuses on medical tourism in developing countries, the author has chosen journals related to 3 most common developing countries that are well known for medical tourism: Thailand, India and Malaysia. Both quantitative and qualitative data included in these journals are analyzed to give a scientific, practical and realistic conclusion to the research.
The author paid attention on the following parts of the journals:
In Medical tourism: Sea, sun, sand and … surgery of Connel: a new form of niche tourism and tourist: the economic rationale.
In Medical tourism in Thailand of Dr Cohen: commodification and globalization, linkages between medical establishments and tourism and the consequences of the growth of medical tourism.
In Medical Tourism in Malaysia of Chee: commodification of healthcare, the development of medical tourism in Malaysia, competitors: Thailand and Singapore, state involvements and implications.
In Medical Tourism: Global competition in Healthcare of Herrick: the emerging market for medical tourism, ensuring quality for medical tourists, obstacles to healthcare globalization. In addition, the author considers data from figure 1: worldwide medical tourism industry and table 1: the cost of medical procedures in selected countries.
In Medical Tourism: Treatments, Markets and Health System Implications: A scoping review of Lunt, Smith, Exworthy, Green, Horsfall & Mannion: section one the medical tourism market and section 2 the medical tourism industry.
In Dissertation on Medical Tourism in India: Strategy for Its Development of Nagarajan: medical tourism in India and India – strategic thrusts for the future. Table about treatment cost and service spectrum are also analyzed for the discussion in the following section.
By using this method, the author could be able to stress on the main idea of the journals and categorize literature of the writers into four main parts that will appear in the discussion section. The method also allows author to have a general view on medical tourism in developing countries, which is best represented through the most three medical tourism destination: India, Thailand and Malaysia. Using secondary data is efficient in the means of resources and time. Secondary data also provide comparative information and result in new casual links that would be useful for the research. The limitation of secondary data is that it may be collected for different purpose, and the data given only reflect what the writer thinks it is significant. In short, this method requires the author to have great critical thinking and data analysis skills so that the research can be conducted in an appropriate and accurate way.
Comparison and Discussion of Key Findings for Practise
This section will cover the key findings in the literature review, associated with the author critical thinking to have a comparison and discussion about the subject matter. The literature can be categorized in 4 main parts: demand and supply of medical tourism, problems and challenges that are frequently met, globalisation and commodification – two factors that boost the growth of medical tourism and finally the state involvements and implications to support this field.
Demand and Supply
Healthcare is common need that everyone has, especially in developed countries, where health is seriously considered as important to humans life. However, the cost of healthcare and treatments have risen as skyrocket recently due to increasing labor cost and equipment prices, the needs of a majority of citizen in developed countries cannot be met. Therefore, these people often seek for overseas treatments, which are much cheaper and even higher quality in developing countries such as Thailand, India, Malaysia, Philippines, etc. Lots of them combine healthcare and travel in order to be able to improve their health completely by travelling and having treatment at the same time. Connell (2006) stated that: Medical tourism as a niche has emerged from the rapid growth of what has become an industry, where people travel